Zimbabwe has agreed with the UN food agency (WFP) to feed at least three million people in the country until next June, BBC Online reports Friday.
The deal is intended to smooth the World Food Programmes operations in the country. It does not guarantee help to victims of housing demolitions.
Shortly after the deal was signed, the UK government announced a new 18 million US dollar cash donation to WFP for use in its Zimbabwe programmes.
Last year, President Robert Mugabe said Zimbabwe could feed itself without aid. But the WFP said Harare now recognised high food prices will leave many people short of food before Aprils harvest.
WFPs country director for Zimbabwe, Kevin Farrell, said the deal “will certainly assist in meeting our plans to deliver food aid to hungry people across Zimbabwe”.
A report issued this week by Human Rights Watch accused the UN humanitarian agencies of neglecting those people affected by the Zimbabwe government’s housing demolition programme, Operation Murambatsvina, in urban areas.
In November, the WFP and its partners distributed food to some two million Zimbabweans, the WFP statement said.
Mr Mugabe has blamed the poor harvest on recent droughts, which prompted WFP to start feeding millions across southern Africa in 2002.
Some economists say that Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform, restrictions on the imports and movement of grain, have worsened the problem.
